Fudgy PB&J Oatmeal

You can probably imagine how this recipe was born.

Yep: I wanted chocolate oatmeal, but I also wanted PB&J oatmeal.

What you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup milk of choice, or water*
• 1/4 cup quick cook steel cut oats*
• 1 ripe banana, mashed; or 1/3 cup sweet potato puree + 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 rounded tbsp. [4 tsp] cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 or 2 tbsp fruit preserves, jam, or jelly
• 1 or 2 tbsp peanut butter

How to make it:

1. Bring milk (I use an equal mixture of almond milk and water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to a simmer.
2. Add mashed banana (or sweet potato and maple syrup) to the oatmeal. Stir.
3. Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir.
4. When you’re pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Top with fruit preserves and peanut butter. Serve with another splash of your milk of choice and any other additional toppings (chocolate chips, shredded coconut, nuts, etc.).

Just an FYI:

*You can make this with rolled or quick oats by increasing the liquid to 1 cup and the oats to 1/2 cup.

I don’t know why I thought combining fudgy oats with PB&J wouldn’t work. The type of jelly choice makes a difference, of course, but it’s really not that serious. Sure, strawberry or raspberry jam makes more sense with chocolate than grape jelly does, but (to my surprise) the grape jam worked, too.

I took this recipe a step further than necessary and made a homemade quick raspberry spread. Although I could have used an actual jar of berry jam, I didn’t want to buy any more jelly just for this recipe. (Friends, I hoard jelly and I already have seven jars in my kitchen already. Don’t even ask me how many jars of nut butter I have.)

Before you start imagining me cooking down raspberries and simmering it with sugar for an hour and letting it cool and then straining out the seeds, I assure you I did nothing like that. I literally just mashed raspberries with a fork and then put them on my oatmeal. Lazy jam. 🙂